Testing the TK Tar Baby

[picowatt]

TK,MH,

I can't fathom how nice it would be to have a scope with "go to".  That has to be just awesome.  It is really something to actually look through a scope and see objects that you typically only see photos of.  Although, for deep sky objects, doing some AP is really nice too.

They have indeed advanced the gear tremendously in the past few years.

I am going to have to get a rig again.

PW

[TinselKoala]

TK,

What size is your Edge HD?  You probably said already...

9.25 inches, f/10.

So you pretty much use the Megrez just for AP?  Does that one have electric focus?

PW

Not always just for AP. It's great for Luna, and I only have a small solar filter (Kendrick Astro Instruments make, using Baader solar filter film) so it's used for solar viewing too, and any time a wide field is needed, like for the Andromeda galaxy or the Pleiades. (The star diffraction spikes you see in some of my images are done with crossed threads in front of the objective. There isn't a "spider" in the EdgeHD, the secondary is mounted on the front glass like a standard Schmidt-Cassegrain design, and of course there  is no obstruction at all in the refractor.
No electric focus on either of these scopes. The ETX125 does have, though. I'm going to rig a servo focuser for the 9.25 one of these days, and the software that I use can then focus the scope using fwhm or some other statistic on a star image.
Usually I use a Bahtinov focus mask which is an amazing and necessary accessory, focusing on a visible star near my invisible deepsky target, then slewing the scope "on faith" and fine-framing the invisible target using sample exposures and careful nudging. I started AP because I just couldn't see much visually... but the AP really opened up the skies.

[TinselKoala]

"And I do NOT, like the rest of you, comment on any personal level at all."

"Unless, again, you're not as 'impartial' as you're pretending.  Or unless you believe that his abuse is merited.  In which case you, like he, would be operating under questionable levels of conduct  and employing double standards with a flagrant liberality."

What a bald faced liar you are, Rosemary. YOU compared me to HITLER, to Savonarola, and just a couple of days ago you called me a criminal sociopath or something ridiculous like that.
These threads are filled with your personal-level comments against just about everybody, even including our host Stefan... who you just called "unreliable" in a very insulting manner.

You have a serious problem. You are disconnected from reality. And you still have not corrected your errors at all.

Set your FG to make your long, negative going pulse cycle. Make the oscillations. Then put a current meter in series with the negative lead of the function generator and report here the reading on it. Do the same with your magic 555 timer.

Of course you won't, but if you only would, you would see that the FG DOES provide a current pathway, and if you only had the wit to see it you would have to acknowledge STEFAN's point: that the FG's voltage is in SERIES with the main battery's voltage and adds to the power in the circuit.

[picowatt]

Rosemary,

The "likes of me" glanced through your post.  Nice one Rosemry, no emotion there.

I do indeed comment on TK's and everybody else's attitude.  I wish everyone would lighten up. What do you want me to do?  I say what I say and that is all that I can do.  You have apparently gotten under other peoples' skin in the past, and that is not my battle.  You do have a way of invoking frustration and your writing style is a bit, well, inflammatory at times.  So if other's have dealt with that for some time, possibly they have reached a rope's end.  That is far from a justification, but is indeed an observation, with possibly a lesson to be learned, by all.

As long as I am treated with respect and courtesy I do not have a problem with anyone.

If there is more to address, I apologize, as I said, I am selective regarding what I read.  It is boring and non-productive when full of negative emotion and insinuation.

The "likes of me",
PW



 

[picowatt]

TK,

If you had to choose but one telescope for "all around use", and as a purchase suggestion, which way would you go?


PW